Medfield Schools Roundup: New Principal, Budget Updates and Energy Savings

Medfield Schools Superintendent Bob Maguire announced at Monday’s School Committee meeting that a decision has been made regarding the search for the next principal of .

Donna Olson, principal at Raymond C. LaPerche Elementary School in Smithfield, R.I., was recently appointed by Maguire to become the next principal at Ralph Wheelock Elementary School.

“She’s excited and ready to go,” Maguire said. “My plan is to organize a reception so the faculty over at Wheelock will have the opportunity to meet with her and do some sort of activity where parents can get introduced. I plan having her sit down with Ed Quigley, the interim principal … to begin talking about a transition plan that would get her comfortable knowing the players in Medfield.”

Maguire said Olson was chosen from a field of about 40 applicants after he and members of his principal search team met with her in Smithfield, R.I. just before February break.

“The [principal search] committee felt very good about her and the folks at my level involved in the process that I conducted really loved her,” Maguire said. “I visited the district with a team of people and we really feel good about [the hiring].”

Maguire Remains Confident in Local FY13 Budget, Concerned About State Budget

Maguire maintained that locally, the fiscal year 2013 school budget is in good shape and has been well-received by the town’s Warrant Committee.

“We are still getting good news at the local front in terms of our budget,” Maguire said. “I spoke to the chairman of the Warrant Committee this week and the warrant committee has not taken any vote on the school budget, but he indicated to me that they don’t see any issues from his committee at this point in terms of the school budget.

“The conversation was all positive. I think the fact that we brought the budget in under the target they were looking for has been very well received. At this point, it did not seem like they were going to require us to come back for another meeting.”

The Warrant Committee is expected to vote on the budget on March 20.

While Maguire remains optimistic and confident with the department’s budget at the local level, he did expanded on several points of concern he made at the Feb. 13 school committee meeting about the FY13 state budget.
“At this point, there appears to be $1.3 billion fiscal gap in the fiscal 13 budget based on what the governor presented with his plan,” Maguire said of Governor Deval Patrick’s proposal. “At this point, they’re anticipating closing that budget gap by about $550 million in reductions of funding.”

That figure is concerning to Maguire because of the amount of cutbacks needed to address the fiscal gap.

“There are a lot of programs across the state that are going to be cut,” Maguire said. “The good news is Chapter 70 appears to have the support of the Governor the way the Governor has written the budget. … There’s a formula for different levels of funding in Chapter 70 and it appears there’s going to be over $200 million in new funding for Chapter 70. That’s good for education but there are some very important programs that are going to have to be cut to make up $550 million.”

One option legislators are looking into to close the gap is applying revenue initiatives in the Commonwealth like the proposed “” legislation, which would generate roughly $215 million, according to Maguire.

“While many look at those areas as being palatable to gain revenue, there still a lack of appetite for the idea of revenue increases across the state,” Maguire said. “That’s a real issue, that $215 million that he’s planning to basically balance this budget with … it’s a big chunk of cash that he needs to get the support of the legislature on doing.”

As legislators work to identify what programs will be cut, Maguire and the Medfield School Committee are being proactive in stressing the importance of the state’s Circuit Breaker funding program, which benefits towns like Medfield and would be impacted if the program was cut.

, Maguire suggested the committee send a letter to its state legislators voicing its concern and support of the Circuit Breaker program. The superintendent confirmed at Monday’s meeting that the letter was sent and has scheduled a meeting with the town’s legislators on April 8 to discuss this in more detail.

“The Circuit Breaker funding as it stands right now is level funded in the governor’s state budget and based on what we are calculating right now would be really good for Medfield,” Maguire said. “We are planning on having the [state representatives] come into a school committee meeting on April 8. All have agreed to come and I’m keeping up the dialogue with them on these issues.”

To read more about the Circuit Breaker fund, .

FY13 Budget Mailer Discussed

Charles Kellner, director of finance and operations for Medfield Public Schools, presented the first draft of the FY13 School Department Budget Mailer that will go out to residents in advance of Town Meeting on April 30.

The mailer discusses the FY13 budget proposal, the drivers behind the budget and explanation for distribution of funds.

Kellner said the district has two school committee meetings left before the mailer needs to be finalized and ready to go to print. Check back at Medfield Patch for more on the FY13 budget mailer.

FY12 Budget in ‘Good Shape’

Kellner said barring any unexpected problems, the department will end FY12 in the black.

“Things are on course,” Kellner said. “Eight months into the fiscal year and about 96 percent of the budget is expended. It’s really not as tight as things appear. … Again, absent any significant surprises to the bad in the next few months, I feel cautiously optimistic that things will end in the black again.”

Dale Street School Principal Search Underway

Maguire said after concluding the search for the Ralph Wheelock School principal, he will now turn his full attention to finding the next principal of

“The Dale process is now underway, I sent out letters at the beginning of this week notifying the folks that are going to be involved in that process and right now my hope is … I believe I am meeting with [the search committee] on the 13 of March and begin screening and the interview process and then the whole process that takes place at my level with the goal of having the principal at Dale appointed by the end of April or beginning of May,” Maguire said.

Maguire said there are over 40 applicants for Dale Street.

“Just need one,” Maguire said.

The superintendent added that while the search is a blank slate, there was one “very strong” candidate from the Wheelock search that has expressed interest in the Dale opening and will likely be included with the other applicants.

Medfield Schools Improve Energy Efficiency

As communities around the Commonwealth focus more on energy efficiency, Kellner shared some positive news on where Medfield stands after it received energy audits from NSTAR.

“At the time before these energy issues were addressed, Medfield’s energy performance rating in November 2005 for Dale Street School was a 33,” Kellner said. “In other words we were in the 33rd percentile for out energy efficiency for similar structures and similar climates. With some of the efforts we have taken to date, multi-faceted efforts, we are now rated as a 78. We’ve reduced our baseline adjusted energy use in a little over six years by 31.8 percent.”

Kellner said similar results have been seen at the middle school and high school over the past four years.

“In September 2008, the middle school was rated a 46, the high school a 22,” Kellner said. “Those numbers are now 70 and 72. Twenty percent reduction at middle school and 37.8 percent reduction at the high school.”

Kellner said the energy saving numbers aren’t as dramatic at the Memorial and Wheelock Schools because the energy use in those buildings “wasn’t so egregious.” Kellner thanked all those who have made these energy savings possible.

“There’s a lot of people that deserve credit for [this],” Kellner said. “Our students, our staff, our teachers, our custodians and lots of other folks who have really understood what it means that a dollar worth spending on natural gas is a dollar that’s not available to spend on education. We are in the business of educating.”

To watch the March 5 School Committee meeting in its entirety, click here.